Award Data

In this program, we will develop a breakthrough technology that will enable wafer-scale epitaxial lift-off (ELO) of GaN power device heterostructures from low-dislocation-density bulk GaN substrates. This technology will be used to provide a low-cost vertical junction field effect transistors (VJFETs) with high breakdown voltage (greater than 1,200 V) and high current capability (greater than 100 ...

A team at EP Purification has performed research for the development and commercialization of low-cost microchannel plasma reactor modules capable of efficiently producing ozone for water treatment and other environmental applications in a slim form factor and size. The conservation of water resources for human consumption is a growing national priority. Ozone is a unique purification agent as it ...

NASA's long range goals of reducing fuel consumption by 30% and increasing fuel efficiency by 35% can be partially accomplished through increasing the operation temperatures of gas turbine engines. The advent of advanced alloys, coatings, cooling technologies and ceramic components has created the potential for significant increases in the hot section of these engines; however, these advances wil ...

As the power density of advanced engines increases, the need for new materials that are capable of higher operating temperatures, such as ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), is critical for turbine hot-section static and rotating components. Such advanced materials have demonstrated the promise to significantly increase the engine temperature capability relative to conventional super alloy metallic ...

Robots need to know their location to map of their surroundings but without global positioning data they need a map to identify their surroundings and estimate their location. Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) solves these dual problems at once. SLAM does not depend on any kind of infrastructure and is thus a promising localization technology for NASA planetary missions and for many ter ...

Aurora proposes to transition UMD methods for insect-inspired, lightweight vision- and optical sensor-based navigation methods for a combined air-ground system that leverages the unique capabilities of airborne systems to achieve a progressively refined map of the exploration region which can be accessed by agents within the autonomous team for localization, and by scientists and other ground ob ...

The purpose of this SBIR program is to adapt NanoSonic's HybridSil® nanocomposites and combine high erosion resistance, low ice adhesion, and passive anti-icing functionality with Metal Rubber sensor technology to enable in-flight icing measurement and mitigation for next generation aircraft. During Phase I, NanoSonic successfully demonstrated novel sensor design concepts coupled with HybridSi ...

Advances in computer-aided mission planning can enhance mission operations and science return for surface missions to Mars, the Moon, and beyond. While the innovations envisioned by this program are broadly applicable, they serve an immediate and urgent need for missions to prospect for volatiles at the lunar poles (i.e., the NASA Lunar Resource Prospector Mission, currently in Phase A). These mis ...

The National Airspace System (NAS) in the United States will become a complex array of commercial and general aviation aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, reusable launch vehicles, rotorcraft, airports, air traffic control, weather services, and maintenance operations, among others. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) projects that by 2025 air traffic will increase by more than 50 percent ...

The goal of the program is to reduce the cost of substrate reclaim for high-efficiency solar cells fabricated by an epitaxial lift-off (ELO) process, and to increase the number of reuse cycles for a given substrate. If successful, this will result in a reduction in the cost of GaAs-based multi-junction solar cells, in which the cost of the substrate accounts for approximately 50% of the total cos ...